Loose Ends
by matt626
Summary: Rourke planning to steal the Heart of Atlantis has been discovered, he must move quickly to keep secrets exactly that- secrets.
1. Tying Up

**I had always wondered why only two people were the leaders of the trip to Atlantis, with as many people going one may think "who else is there?". Now I may be reading too far into it, but this is my explanation. Hope you enjoy.**

Tying Up

It was a stormy night out on the Atlantic, the ship Embargo way on its last day in a long journey to deliver the submarine Ulysses to Endpoint Yard, the launching area for an expedition to Atlantis. Most thought this a foolhardy mission that it was a waste of time, many thought they might find something worthwhile even if it is just ruins. However, there was a small handful that knew of something, something that would make them rich enough to retire and live a lavish life many times over.

That was the discussion between three men that night as they stood on an empty Afterdeck on the stern of the ship. Commander Lyle Rourke was with the ships' captain Lieutenant Commander Anthony Hopkins, a medium height Englishman, and Captain Wyatt Moody, no nonsense man born in streets of Mexico City, commander of the detachment of soldiers sent for security. Both of these men had made a career in the company Reynar Solutions, the company being contracted out by Mr. Whitmore.

"We have a problem," Hopkins said with a nervous sidelong glance, his statement was met with a stern and questioning stare. "My XO, Lieutenant Geers may have stumbled across our plans regarding the crystal."

"How?" The response Rourke gave was spat out between gritted teeth.

Hopkins braced himself, "He was dropping off a report to my office while I was on the bridge and might have spotted some of the notes jotted down in Iceland."

"He either did or didn't, which is it Commander?" Rourke asked curtly.

"There is no denying what he saw, however I am certain I was able to convince him it was the premise to a book I found, something a crewman with imagination wrote up."

"Okay," Rourke pinched his nose, "has he told anyone else?"

"No, I told him if he needed answers to come to you, he is a good sailor, he'll wait."

Rourke turned to Moody, "Anyone in the squads know of this?"

"No sir, just Sergeant Millar and I, as agreed." The man simply responded.

Rourke nodded, the wheels in his head turning, planning on how to keep this all a secret. Just weeks ago, he saw this chance to get rich and never have to work for anyone ever again. It was doubtful that they could get Greers on board so quickly so he had to go one way or another, then the solution came to him.

"We need to get him out of the picture," Rourke began, "It is too late to bring him into the fold."

Hopkins had a worried look on his face, "How? There are no nearby ships owned by the company to even think of a reason to transfer him."

Rourke gave him a pointed look, "Then we remove him permanently, arrange for an 'accident' to occur on the Ulysses, then I will fill the holes that will appear in manpower."

"A good plan." Hopkins said, he was visibly starting to calm down.

Continuing Rourke laid out the rest of his plan, "Lieutenant Stewart will take command of the sub after the expedition, he needs more training, in the meantime Lieutenant Sinclair will be the acting CO until we get back, I need someone I can trust down there."

The last part of his statement had more of an edge which caused Hopkins to flinch. "I'll make sure any documents are destroyed and those who are in the loop don't speak of it anymore."

"Good," Rourke said quietly, "speaking of holes, Captain, you lost Second Lieutenant Hargreaves in supply, correct? Who is taking his spot?"

"There is an up and coming sergeant that shows promise, with your permission I would like to give him a field commission, if not, there is a cadet from headquarters that just got certified, we can have him join the supply platoon when we return."

Nodding the commander replied, "I trust your judgment, you can have your sergeant commissioned, we can be short staffed men and women, but each officer we lose means a loss in organization, we are losing three already, any more is unacceptable."

Pausing to make sure he counted right Hopkins spoke slowly, "Three sir? I thought we lost Hargreaves and will lose Greers, who is the Third?"

Turning to him Rourke simply said, "Very astute Commander, I am afraid your services are no longer needed, people who leaves important documents lying around are a liability. You are relived of you post; Lieutenant Jennings will take over for you."

Looking past him, he motioned with his head over the railing and into the sea.

Realizing what was going on Hopkins was about to run, but he was too late, a sudden and agonizing pain suddenly was felt on the left side of his back between his ribs. Moody had stabbed him and covered the man's mouth before he had the chance to scream.

As the life drained from the sailor, Rourke said, "I will make sure the crew knows how distraught I was to not being able to save you from drowning, goodbye Mister Hopkins."

At that Moody lifted the man by the legs and dumped him over the railing. The body quickly left the meager lighting of the boat, soon to be lost to the sea.

Rourke checked his watch, "I will give it ninety seconds before the alarm is raised. Go and alert CPO Han, that Greers needs to be gone before we launch from Endpoint, I will set in order the new positions of everyone."

"Yes sir." Moody acknowledged and made his way below decks.

Rourke calmly stood at the railing waiting, the next minute and a half were silent save for the thrumming of the engines and pattering of the rain. Then, breaking the silence came the cry,

"Man over board! Man over board!"

**Ending is next, R&R please, I love getting feedback.**


	2. Tidying Up

**Alright, next chapter, Disney: I don't anything save the OCs and the specific story, didn't mention that before.**

Chapter Two

Audrey Ramirez was having one hectic week, as soon as she boarded the Ulysses while docked in England a week ago it has been nonstop work. Apparently, the previous Engineering Officer decided it was okay to let maintenance schedules fall behind and his replacement was well meaning but lacked the experience to get things up to speed. So, it fell on her to get things in order because any self-respecting mechanic would not let a wonderful machine like the Ulysses fall apart on her watch.

Ensign Yashiro Eikichi, aforementioned engineer, was currently sitting at his small office deep in the engineering section desperately fighting a losing battle against the piles of paperwork involved with his work. He and Audrey worked a system that he mostly did the paperwork for the overhaul and she led the majority of maintenance efforts. The good news was she got them back on schedule with all the work accomplished, but the bad news- according to Eikichi- were all of the reports that were being generated from it.

"Hey, you can switch me jobs if you want." She offered after he had complained one night.

Sighing after realizing he wouldn't be able to match her out there, he just shook his head, "No, no, forget I asked."

For the most part it had worked and they were almost ready for the launch. Audrey had been distraught though when their Deputy Engineering Officer, Midshipman Grant told them that the commander of the submarine was to do a last-minute inspection first thing tomorrow. This meant everyone in engineering was out making sure they were ready.

It was almost two in the morning when they had to call it quits, anything that moved was cleaned and oiled, the equipment and gauges had been calibrated and tested, so it was time to pack it up and get some sleep before their inspection later that morning.

They had dismissed everyone except the night crew and Audrey was on her way out when she heard some clanging of metal between the banks of boilers. Turning to see what caused it she saw one of the engineers working on a steam pipe.

"CPO Han, we have finished, you are good to go." Audrey called out to him.

Looking up he smiled and said, "Of course Ms. Ramirez, must have missed the first call. I was just working on this pipe fitting; it has been giving me trouble all night."

"Need any help?" She offered, starting to move his way.

He waved her off, "No, not at all, just finishing up in fact."

She smiled back and nodded, "Alright, make sure you get some sleep soon, we need as much rest as we can get for the inspection."

"Right you are ma'am, no delay." He started to he turned back to the pipe with renewed effort.

She turned, and left, ready for sleep, it had been a long day and she was tired

* * *

The morning came and the engineering section was ready and waiting for the inspection. She stood with Eikichi ready to receive the submarine commander Lieutenant Greers.

Curious about him Audrey asked her fellow mechanic, "What do you know about Greers? Is he a fair man or is he one of those that just have to find something wrong during an inspection?"

Eikichi considered her question for a moment then answered, "He is a fair man, by the book, but always fair when it comes to these things. If we did our job right, then we'll be good to go."

"That's good." She nodded, as she did, she looked around the engine room she mentally went over the work that they did and felt confident that their work would hold up to even the most severe scrutiny.

"Officer on deck!" A sailor called out. At this the whole room came, bar Audrey, to attention. She stood in a relaxed but respectful position next to Eikichi, the benefits off not wearing a uniform.

Lieutenant Greers entered the engineering section accompanied by an Ensign with a clipboard. The Lieutenant was a man tall man in his thirties with brown hair cut short in a high and tight.

"At ease." He called out, and he made his way to the line of engineers before him.

They could tell something was bothering him because there was poorly hidden worry upon his face. Audrey looked over to Eikichi about to whisper a question but he simply and covertly shook his head.

Greers spoke, "I come to you with some sobering news: Commander Hopkins, captain of the Embargo drowned last night. Commander Rourke was with him and saw him slip and fall overboard. Efforts were made to recover him but searches proved fruitless. I understand you were down here working so you would not have heard the alarms."

He paused clearly trying to stay composed. The rest of the crew they here reacting similarly, some with surprise on their face and others blinking back tears refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"So," he continued, "The expedition will still go forward as planned. At the conclusion of the journey below, the Embargo crew will have a sea side memorial set- the commander would have wanted that- and then we will return to port. We will now have an abbreviated inspection; I am needed at the bridge shortly for some business. Ensign Eikichi, are you ready?"

He stepped forward, "Aye sir!"

Nodding Greers motioned for his aide, "Ensign Gibbons, with Miss. Ramirez please, we will divide and conquer, you work top down, Ensign Eikichi and I will work up to meet you."

"Can do." She stated. Eikichi followed Greers and Audrey went to meet Gibbons.

"First thing I need to see are the gauges up on the catwalks." Gibbons said.

Audrey nodded, "Follow me."

They started towards a set of stairs that led to the middle of the engineering section, from that point they could reach any part of the engine room from the many catwalks and ladders that led from there.

The trip to the gauges was short and uneventful, Gibbons clearly didn't want to talk about anything beyond the inspection and Audrey wasn't going to push since he had lost a colleague. Her father had mentioned on his previous jobs for the company they had lost people and it was part of the job. However, whenever she or her sister asked him about it, he would change the subject or ask them if they forgot something in the auto shop.

They were halfway through the checklist for the port crankshaft when they heard a crash and a lot of yelling coming down below near the boilers.

"No! No! Aaahh!"

"Man down! Man down! Divert the steam to the Auxiliaries!"

Audrey and Gibbons turned and ran towards the commotion to investigate. Upon reaching the last stretch of stairs Audrey skipped the last three steps and ran towards a growing crowd near the boilers.

The sight she saw would stay with her the rest of her life. Lieutenant Greers and Ensign Eikichi were circled by the group and the former was totally still while the latter was quietly moaning in pain. There were visible burns and blisters covering almost every visible inch of skin and under their white shirts what had to be more burns showing through the soaked material as well.

"What happened?" She asked frantically.

"Boiler steam pipe. One of its fitting failed and they got blasted." Said Tim, an engineer with a long bead and overalls. "Happened at the worst time, the engines were getting revved up so the pressure was greatest there."

She shuddered after hearing that and looking at the fallen men again. Steam injuries were bad, as a car mechanic mostly she ran across them occasionally, but nothing this big. She and her family had heard from some friends that were dockworkers about deaths and severe injuries involving steam and none of them were pretty.

"Is the doctor on the way?" Tim asked one of engineers who stood next to the rooms' speaking tube.

"Aye, five minutes out."

"Is that going to help?" Another asked.

Tim shook his head, "Unless I am mistaken, all we can for them now is ease their pain, that's what we'll need him for."

Gibbons who had stood there stunned, came around and started issuing orders, "Except for the men tending the wounded and the man at the tube, clear the area and secure the room from anymore potential injuries. We have a job to do ladies and gentlemen, it seems cold but the time for any mourning must be for later."

With practiced ease everyone made their way to designated work areas and began checking and rechecking equipment. This was done almost silently save for the clanging of tools and occasional reporting of what the gauges were saying.

Gibbons turned to Audrey and said, "The next thirty-six hours will be critical, that is the time between now and when the Ulysses will return to the Embargo while waiting for the ground team. There I imagine an investigation will be launched. I need you and Midshipman Grant to keep them busy and keep their mind off things, can I count on you?"

Head spinning, she replied "I will try, what about the Lieutenant and Eikichi?"

Gibbons turned and started walking away from the crew motioning for her to follow. After a moment he spoke again, "Whether we lose them or not we need this room operational, that means apart from the obvious, everything here is to be the same."

"The same wha- how? Why just had a major accident here!" She responded incredulously.

"You're going to have to, I need you here, and the XO will need me on the bridge, that is all."

With an apologetic look he turned and headed for the exit hatch. She stood there watching and when he left, she turned and looked at the mess that was unfolding on the engineering deck that she was now responsible for.

"Oh, vaya."

**Thank you for ****reading, I hope you liked it.**

**Just want to give an update for anyone interested; the full length story I'm writing is almost done, the chapters are written, they just need a revision and proof reading then it will be published. I am very excited for it as I hope you all are as well.**


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